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Subrata Roy was born in Araria in Bihar, India 1948[1] to Sudhir Chandra Roy and Srimati Chhabi Roy.[2][3] He studied at Holy Child School in Kolkata and later studied mechanical engineering from Government Technical Institute, Gorakhpur.[4] Roy started his first business in Gorakhpur.[5][6]

Roy joined Sahara Finance, a struggling company, in 1978,[7][8] that ran a chit fund[9] and took it over. He changed its financial model. Sahara is said to have used the financial model of much older Peerless Group. They are termed residuary non-banking companies (RNBCs)[10] that accept deposits of very low amounts.

In 1990s, Roy moved to Lucknow which became the base of his empire.[11] His Sahara City project covering 170 acres was launched in 1990s.[12] From there, it went on to become the largest conglomerate of India with a diversified range of business interests. The company now has interests in real estate, media, entertainment, tourism, healthcare, and hospitality.

The Hindi newspaper Rashtriya Sahara was started in 1992. In late 1990s, the ambitious Aamby Valley City project near Pune was initiated. In 2000, Sahara TV was launched which was later renamed Sahara One. In 2003, Sahara started three weeklies: Sahara Time (English), Sahara Samay (Hindi) and Sahara Aalmi (Urdu).[13]

Sahara claims to have a workforce of more than a million, including salaried employees and field workers.[17] In 2013, 121,653 of its employees gathered in Lucknow to sing the India's national anthem, setting a world record[18]

Sahara is said to have 29.6 million investors, representing about 8.5% of all households in India.[19]

In 2013, Sahara contributed to the relief efforts in flood hit Uttarakhand region wherein one lakh bottles of drinking water, juice bottles and food packets along with candles and match boxes were said to provided by them. There were 25 medical health unit vans equipped with doctors and free medicines made available and It was said by the group that, they will contribute to the rehabilitation programme by constructing 10,000 pre-fabricated houses.[20]

On 26 February 2014, the Supreme Court of India ordered the arrest of Subrata Roy for failing to appear before it in connection with the Rs. 24,000 crore deposits his company has not refunded to investors. He was eventually arrested on 28 February 2014 by Uttar Pradesh police on Supreme Court's warrant, in a dispute with Market Regulator - SEBI.[29] In a statement after the arrest, his lawyer said Mr. Roy's 92-year-old mother was in poor health and needed "her eldest son" by her side, and hence he failed to appear at the court.[30] As he has failed to appear in court during the ongoing legal battle, Mr. Roy has been in custody in the Tihar Jail, Delhi, since 4 March 2014 and his bail plea has been rejected by the Supreme Court of India. Sahara was allowed to sell a part of its assets in India to raise part of the money in question.[31] He was granted interim bail by Supreme Court of India for the same on 26 March 2014 on condition of depositing Rs 10,000 crore with the market regulator Sebi.[32] His deposit of 10,000 crore has not been made and Roy is still in jail.[33] As of August 2014, Roy is trying to sell some of his hotel properties to raise enough money.[34]